Open your heart and appreciate the sweet things in life.
A French bulldog went to the premiere of The witcher season 3 on Wednesday night. “Rory the Frenchman” as she is known on TikTok is obviously a huge Henry Cavill stan. So Netflix set a trap for all of us by inviting the pup to the premiere and making sure there were photographers every step of the way. I’m not prepared to be cynical about this. The dog is cute and more animals should do step-and-repeats.
Rory the Frenchie is a viral phenomenon, if you’re in TikTok’s particular algorithmic orbit that serves you nerd-ass fantasy content and videos of pets watching TV and making faces. Owner Heather Land’s account for the French bulldog has more than 388,000 followers, who regularly tune in to see Rory cosplay and thirst for Henry Cavill — most notably as his character Geralt of Rivia from The witcher. Land first discovered her furry friend’s fandom for Geralt during a rewatch in late 2022. When Cavill appeared on screen, the normally laid-back dog flipped and has been wagging her tail all over the actor’s face ever since.
Netflix jumped at the chance and flew Land and Rory to the premiere to reap all the rewards from their TikTok audience. But the truth is that the real gold is what paparazzi photographers picked up on their triumphant entrance. I’ve never been happier for a dog.
The big question that none of the documentation shows: Did Rory meet Cavill and melt in a puddle of dog? Signs point to no, despite it being something Cavill would probably love; the actor is a known dog lover. Cavill recently parted ways with a French bulldog, named Meat, when the dog passed away in April, but brought another French bulldog, named Baggins, into his life earlier in June. Must love dogssays Henry Cavill. And yet, based on TikTok updates and event snapshots, Cavill may not have met his #1 dog fan! That’s how close they got that night.
Rory most likely didn’t meet her big crush, but by attending the premiere in the first place, I declare that the dog has done society a great service.
Let’s all promise not to tell Rory what’s going on inside The witcher season 4.